This invention relates to a quick-cleaning, scanning/weighing apparatus which is used, for example, with a retail terminal which is used in reading U.P.C. data on merchandise to be sold.
In recent years, there has been a trend to place U.P.C. (Universal Pricing Code) data on merchandise to be sold. When a customer presents the merchandise to be purchased at a check-out counter, an operator moves the merchandise so that the associated U.P.C. data thereon is moved in operative relationship with a scanning unit associated with a retail terminal at the check-out counter. The U.P.C. data which is read is used to electronically obtain the associated unit price and merchandise description which are printed on a sales slip by the retail terminal.
In an effort to compress several check-out functions into fewer terminals and to reduce the size of the check-out counter at a retail store, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 707,916, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a terminal which includes an apparatus which is used for scanning U.P.C. data on merchandise to be sold, and also for weighing items, like produce, at the check-out counter of a grocery store, for example.
One of the problems with such a scanning/weighing unit is that the scanning unit gets dusty or dirty and needs to be cleaned periodically. It is especially important that the scanning/weighing unit be disassembled quickly to effect the cleaning and that it also be assembled quickly after the cleaning is accomplished.